CB radio help, loud interference with braking/ignition

Hi all,

I recently installed a CB radio in my 2010 Tacoma. Whenever I turn the truck on, it transmits a terrible screeching noise, and whenever I brake really hard (I think I read somewhere it's the "electro-hydraulic brake system" or some nonsense), it screeches the same way. Other CBers have said it's really bad so I've kept off the airwaves until I find a fix.

Pretty standard setup, Cobra 18 WX ST II, Firestick antenna, etc. Installed by a friend from my college who does CB and Ham radio. Two wires run to the battery, one grounded to a part of the frame (need verification if this is a good spot), coax runs out one of the holes in the body along the bottom of the truck to the bed, antenna mount drilled through the bed below the front bedrail. I think I probably voided the bed's warranty by drilling through it.

Here's some photos of the installation, sorry they are so huge I don't know how to make them smaller:






3rd picture shows the ground. The other two wires run along the engine compartment to the battery. The third ground wire just terminates at that nut. Not sure if this is the right place for it.

Let me know what I'm doing wrong and if there's any way to fix this. Thanks!
Ian

 

that's a bad ground, i'm not quite sure of any perticulars without looking at it... but try running your ground to the batter lead (negative), as long as thats not too far away...

 

It's no big deal. I can just get some wiring and extend the ground wire to the battery.

I am eventually going to get a 2m radio in this truck and will probably replace the CB when I do that, so I want all these little kinks worked out now.

Thanks!

Additional pictures:




Bad picture but you can sort of make out the AC drip line where I pushed the wires through. Note that they are obviously not IN the drip line but next to it!

 

Also be sure that the nylon washer on your antenna is installed correctly. I put mine on backwards in corrolation to the metal washer and cancelled out my signal.
The positive and neg wires from the cb itself need to be run directly to the battery And ground out the antenna on the frame somewhere in the back.

 

i would think its something with the intenna mount. Do u have a little plastic ring where the 2 metal ends touch on the mount? i have had problems with something like this and after i changed the mount it works perfectly now. (its hard to explain what that peice it, sorry)

 

The antenna is NOT grounded out on the bed, since there's hardly any metal to ground to. How would I go about doing that? I'm not exactly electronically-experienced.

I will go and look at the plastic washer on the mount and see if that's the problem.

The guy I bought it from had this exact same setup in his Dodge RAM and I believe it worked with no issues.

 

i am experiencing the same thing. when i depress the brake pedal when the engine is running i get a loud 2 second squeel. but it only happens when the squeltch on the CB is turned all the way up. it really is terribly annoying. i have my CB power and ground wired directly to the battery and i have a non ground plane antenna. some other options that i have heard are to wire the CB to the fuse box using a fuse tap or make the ground wire as short as possible.

 

Will do. I'll see what happens and let you guys know. Appreciate it!

 

Don't ground the antenna, ground the antenna mount. If you ground the antenna then it won't work at all for very long. Many people toss the "ground the antenna" phrase out there and most understand that they are actually referring to the mount itself but to make certain one really should clarify. For interesting reading I strongly suggest Alan's site as he really took the time to explain much of mobile communications to those of us that enjoy it but are still a little foggy on much of it. I'm a licensed amateur operator and I refer to his site all the time as it really is a wealth of genuinely practical information.

 

Yes, when I ground it, I will run the ground wire from the actual mount, not the antenna itself.

Also, turned on the "Soundtracker" option and my signal is crystal clear with no transmitted squeal or anything. I'm still going to ground the antenna but I'm a bit pissed that I spent all this time screwing around when it was just a button that needed to be pushed.

 

so, according to this guy, i have my CB wired properly which is both the poitive and negative wired directly to the battery, but i am still getting that massive squeel when pressing on the brake. he suggested using a split bead to further reduce noice from other electrical devices:
http://www.k0bg.com/beads.html

it might be worth $25 to see if these would eliminate the noise:
http://www.dxengineering.com/Parts.asp?ID=288&PLID=182&SecID=152&DeptID=42&PartNo=DXE-CSB-275P

 

Still haven't had a chance to ground the antenna mount, been too busy working to screw around with the truck.

With SoundTracker enabled, the squeal is definitely less noisy, but I still see the "TX" spike whenever I hit the brakes. The squeal only lasts for about half a second, though, instead of 2 seconds like it used to. Also, as far as I can tell, the squeal isn't transmitted to other CBers. I remember reading in a CB radio manual that SoundTracker is designed to help clear up both your reception and transmissions, so hopefully that's what's making it go away.

I bought a handheld Cobra HH 38 WX ST, and it receives perfectly from my truck now, so no complaints. I used it helping a friend move all his crap out of his apartment in College Station yesterday. Made the drive back to northwest Houston much more entertaining.

 

Well, I grounded the antenna mount today, and it has eliminated most of the associated problems with my CB radio. Thanks guys!

 

I have issue as well but I checked all the grounds (power, cables and antenna mounts) and all checked out fine....
*I'm attempting to run dual antennas but think that it has anything to do with it...

HELP will be much appreciated

 

I'm assuming you're using the correct coax for a dual antenna setup. Maybe try and set it up with a single antenna if you have one or can borrow one.

 

yeah its the right coax (RG59)
I dont think that dual antennas is the issue...

 

Need more info. What radio, antennas and where? Grounds are good? Power straight to radio?

 

Uniden 680, 3' firestiks, RG59 Firering cables, power straight to positive terminal on battery and the very 1st ground point where the battery first grounds to (I also tried the neg terminal itself and a handful of other ground spots)
The antenna mounts are also grounded as I checked the resistance with a multimeter (ohms) and the reading were 00.3 just as the other grounds on the vehicle...

The antennas are on hood hinges on Relentless brackets and the radio is inside the center console...